Yao Mountain
2012-05-25China travel Guide
Guilin is known for a few things, Elephant Trunk Hill, Seven Star Park, Li River, its weird mountains, its spicy food, and a bunch of other stuff. My favorite place in Guilin is the top of any mountain where there's no one next to me.
About a year ago I lived roughly 20 miles away from the tallest mountain in Guilin, Yao Mountain, you can basically see it from anywhere in Guilin on a clear day. When it got to be spring I went there every weekend, ran up the mountain, and at the top did a couple laps, and then would take a chairlift back down while singing (screaming) along with my music. Great days those were, great days.
See the great thing about Yao Mountain is its way out of town, and depending on the season no one goes there, like winter, and it is the only place in Guilin during the winter where you'll see snow and ice. The view from the top is absolutely breath taking, and after climbing for however long it takes you to get to the top (my personal best was 40 min) it's a great place to relax and let the sweat cool down. If you don't feel like running, and climbing, you can ride the chair lift, that's okay I guess but not nearly as much fun. Climbing is free, but the chair lift costs 40RMB.
There's plenty of thing to do there, eat, take pictures, make a wish and put it on a chain, those chains have literal thousands of wishes attached to them. Would you like to know what I wished for? Toooooo bad bucko I aint gonna tell you! There's also a whole bunch of other stuff one can do at the top of a mountain, set of fireworks, chill with some buddies make some BBQ, have a few cold ones. It really is one of the best views in Guilin, and one of those places most tourists don't know about, so if you get a chance and you feel like adventuring out of town for a day, go to Yao Mountain.
If you are climbing the mountain just be careful of a few things, bees, and cobras, you don't often run into them, but if you do go the opposite direction.
---By Daniel (VisitOurChina)